Brian and Sheila always make the best of a bad situation-he cracks jokes, she plays the caretaker. But after ten years of raising their severely disabled daughter, Josephine, Brian and Sheila's best isn't quite good enough. A British classic not seen in Chicago for over 20 years, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is a highly theatrical, heartbreaking, and hilarious look at the love that brings people together and the strains that rip them apart.
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg was first in staged in 1967 at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, before transferring to London's West End in 1968. The following year, that production transferred to Broadway, where it received four Tony Award nominations -- Best Play, Best Actor (Albert Finney), Best Featured Actress (Zena Walker, who won) and Best Director (Michael Blakemore). The play has been revived twice on Broadway. A 1985 revival directed by Arvin Brown at the Longacre Theatre ran for 93 performances. It won both the Tony Award for Best Reproduction of a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival, as well as earning four more Tony nominations -- Best Revival (won), Best Actor (Jim Dale), Best Actress (Stockard Channing, who won) and Best Featured Actress (Joanna Gleason). A 2001 revival on London's West End starred Clive Owen and Victoria Hamilton and was directed by Laurence Boswell. The same production opened on Broadway in 2003, starring Hamilton and Eddie Izzard, at the American Airlines Theatre and played for 69 performances. It was nominated for four Tony Awards - Actor, Actress, Director and Revival. Nichols has twice adapted the play for the screen, first in 1970, and again in 2002.
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